Campaigners step up effort to bring back Chichester's Citizen Assembly

At 1.30pm on Tuesday, November 23 a number of people from Extinction Rebellion and other environmental movements, including the University of Chichester Environmental Society and Eco Chi, protested outside East Pallant House to demand that they reinstate the Citizens’ Assembly that they promised as part of their Climate Action Plan.The Citizens’ Assembly was originally established in January 2020 but was dropped by the Council due to ‘delays to the assembly and concerns about cost to benefit ratios.’

A full council meeting was held following the protest but the request for the Assembly was denied.

As a result of this meeting, councillors Penny Plant and Eileen Lintill agreed to host a meeting between themselves, campaigners, a council officer (Alison Stevens) and Rich Rippin of Sortition Foundation, the organisation that helps organise CAs and the process of choosing participant,

In this meeting, Mr Rippin made the case for Citizen Assembly's and gave lots of examples of success in other local authorities.

However, the council still rejected the idea stating that their current methods of communication and decision-making were sufficient.

George Hibberd, a member of Chichester Extinction Rebellion Group, said: "The latest IPCC report was stark and devastating, stating that we only have a small window of opportunity left to stop the climate and nature crisis from being irreversible and uncontrollable.

"There are plenty of examples of how CAs are so crucial in tackling this crisis to end all crises and address our broken democratic system.

"If the council further rejects this basic call for a CA, our group with step up our campaign in the form of Non-Violent Direct Action."